Read the full article by Edward Robinson and Alasdair MacEwen in PubAffairs. “I am a very, very happy woman” the Belgian Socialist MEP, Kathleen Van Brempt, told reporters on Tuesday. She was reacting to a narrow vote in the European Parliament defeating a €2.7 billion diversion of funds away from the EU’s R&D budget (Horizon2020) into President Juncker’s all-purpose stimulus package, the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). EFSI aims to use €16 billion of EU money and €5 billion of European Investment Bank funds as investor risk guarantees, to unlock a potential €315 billion of public and private investment over the next three years.